Hej Hej from Stockholm!

As you may already know I am working in Sweden at the moment in a place called Linkoping which is about 2 - 2.5hrs south of Stockholm, it is like the Hamilton of Sweden I think... although potentially not as big... anyway rather than heading home for the weekend Shane flew over and we went to Stockholm to see the sights!

We met at the airport (Shane in boardies and jandels.... Renae in coat, scarf and gloves - I forgot to mention to Shane that is had got considerablyt colder in Sweden in the past week) and caught the bus in to Stockholm Central... after deciding to navigate the tube rather than take a taxi cos it would be cheaper, we realised once we were on the tube that is was only marginally cheaper - should have caught the cab! Anyway we got to our hotel which was awesome! I love expedia for the last minute deals - we had a four star place for a very cheap price and the room as the ultimate in Scandanavian styling! I was tempted to stay in there all weekend.... not quite! Anyway we dropped off our gear and headed out to find some dinner. We found a little pub and had the most delicious food and a few wines before heading back to the hotel!

Next morning we were up and away but not before sampling some smoked reindeer for breakfast... for the record smoked reindeer is essentially venison - not that different to eat when you break it down! Again top marks for the Clarion hotel, we agreed that this was the best hotel breakfast we have experienced so far in our travels! Stockholm was on a winner for us... We left the hotel and started walking towards Gamla Stan (the old town). Ok there goes the quick geography lesson - Stockholm is spread across 14 islands which are all connected with bridges, this is then surrounded by the archipelego which contains tens of thousands of other islands in the Baltic sea... moral of that little story is that we had to wander across a few bridges in order to get to Gamla Stan, on the bridge is was time for Renae to whip out the camera and make like a true tourist... sadly after one photo the battery went flat on the camera is was only good for a doorstop at that point - was a bit pissed about it!

We got to Gamla Stan a proceeded to get lost in a maze of little streets before coming out onto the main shopping street (not to fret I found a camera place that chraged my battery - hooray!), so Shane and I cruised through the little stores and got our xmas decoration(s), chilled out and had a coffee, noseyed at some art and generally wandered our way with the masses through to the royal palace on the other side of the island! When we got there we checked out the LP and found out we were just in time for the changing of the guard so off we went with the crowds to watch the tradition in full force, I have to say that the marching band were pretty impressive but they managed to draw out the ceremony - Shane and I both agreed that it would really suck if you had to get off work at 12pm for an appointment or something... they didnt seem to be in a great rush or anything to change the guards!

After the palace we jumped on a bus and headed to the Vasa Museum, this was incredible! The museum revolves around a huge war ship from the 1600's. This ship was built and on its maiden voyage it didnt even manage to get out of Stockholm before capsizing and sinking... bugger! They dont know what caused the ship to sink but basically it was forgotten about until the late 1950's when someone found it and decided to raise it, it took five years but they raised the ship and restored it for the museum. The most incredible thing is due to the brackish water there is very little deterioration to the boat and it is almost entirely original - very very cool!

After we left the museum we wandered back through the city and along the water (which is kind of everywhere in Stockholm) to the hotel before heading out to watch the rugby! We managed to find one bar that was playing the rugby.... the swedish are not big rugby fans, however there were hoardes of french there watching the game.... bugger! Shane and I had to make a quick retreat when it hit full time as they were all standing to sing the french national anthem!

After a night of crying into our pillows over the rugby we headed off and jumped on a boat to see Stockholm by water - we had great seats at the back of the boat and worked our way through the waterways seeing the sights, we went through two locks and across a lake which in winter freezes solid and people walk from one side to the other, skate on it etc... Shane and I struggled to fathom that! When we returned from our boat ride it was time to head back to the airport for Shane and Linkoping (which is actually pronounced Lin-shr-pin) for me... bye bye to Stockholm for now but if I am continuing to work out here then there maybe another weekend to enjoy the shopping! It looked like it would be a great place to do some damage to the credit card!